AI all the way - Observe.AI raises funding; meet the women revolutionising healthcare in India

As India celebrates her 72nd Independence Day, we are sure your mail and message inboxes will be flooded with the tricolour, and many offers and discounts. We thought of joining the bandwagon, but with a way more amazing offer than the others.

India’s most loved startup, technology & innovation summit - TechSparks 2018 - is just 50 days away! Yes, we are hosting the 9th edition of TechSparks on Oct 5-6 in Bengaluru, and only for 5 days, ticket prices have been dropped by a whopping 55%. Use code TS18INDSPL to avail the discount. Book your spots before the prices go up on 20th August.

We have an all-star lineup of speakers, and a kickass agenda planned for you, and we promise that you will be spoilt for choice with our Product, Design, Deep Science & Growth tracks that will feature subject matter experts & practitioners sharing actionable insights!

Jai Hind

California-based artificial intelligence startup Observe.AI has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from MGV, Liquid 2 Ventures, Hack VC and existing investors Emergent Ventures and Y Combinator. The AI platform listens to the call stream in real time, uses deep learning and natural language processing (NLP) to understand the context and generates suggestions and guidance for the agent.

Swapnil Jain, Akash Singh, Sharath Keshava, Co-founders, Observe.ai

Delhi-based online healthcare portal 3Hcare has raised $1 million in its second round of funding, led by a group of technology experts. Founded by Ruchi Gupta in 2016, 3Hcare has partnered with leading laboratories, and aims to bridge the accessibility gap between healthcare services and patients. 3Hcare has partnered with over 400 diagnostic centres and more than 50 hospitals (both NABL and JCI-accredited) in more than 1,500 locations across India to bridge the accessibility gap between healthcare services and patients.

Ruchi Gupta, Founder, 3Hcare

Ahead of the 72nd Independence Day, YouGov (a UK-headquartered market research and data analytics firm) has released a ranking of India’s most patriotic brands. Topping the list is the State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, which was voted by 16 percent of the respondents. It is followed by Tata Motors and Patanjali (eight percent each), telcos Reliance Jio and BSNL (six percent each), and LIC and Amul (five percent each), YouGov said.

Complex lifestyles have put the spotlight on advancements and developments in healthcare to make prevention, diagnosis and cure easier and accessible to all. With Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) becoming the new buzzwords, the healthcare industry is undergoing massive changes, and these women are leading from the front.

Entrepreneurs like Neerja Birla, Anu Acharya, Swati Subodh and Meena Ganesh are making healthcare more accessible in India

Journeys off the beaten track inspired Naveen Kumar Meena and Mohit Sharma to start ToRoots Explorers with the aim to provide a different experience for travellers. Naveen says he chanced upon the idea of ToRoots Explorers while speaking with this friend, Divya Tate, an avid cyclist. The Jaipur-based startup is mentored by the Rajasthan government’s iStart programme, which is focused on nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.

ToRoots founders: Mohit Sharma (left) and Naveen Kumar

Unicorn startup founders like Flipkart’s Sachin and Binny Bansal (not related) and Ola co-founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati dared to start up after gaining minimal work experience. However, there are also a few who started up with absolutely no prior work experience. YourStoryprofiles the courageous few who have made business history.